later, in discussion on the october jobs report. ♪ host: good morning. it is friday, november 2, 2012. election is squadder days away. post campaigns released details on where obama and romney will be making their final appearances ahead of next tuesday. their schedules and with the swing states that have received so much attention. but as we look ahead to election day this morning we want to open our phone lines up to voters and non-swing states to hear what you think about campaign 2012.

we want to hear how motivated those voters are in non battleground states are about the election. and enough on the issues that matter in your state. give us a call on the democrat's line -- 202-585-3880. on the republican line at -- 202-585-3881. and the independent line independen 202-585-38802. and you can catch up with us on twitter, or e-mail us at cspan@journal.org. good morning to you. i want to assure you that 2012 battleground map we have been featuring for the last week or so here on the "washington journal." assuring the swing states in this election. this morning on the washington journal, we want to hear from the voters in the non-yellow

states. everyone else in a blue, give us a call. we want to hear what you think about campaign 2012. our phone lines are open. we have already been getting a few comments on facebook. we want to start of christopher's from minnesota, he writes in, the electoral college needs to go away. john from maryland -- in other non-swing state writes -- my view is that the media has made too much out of the debates and hasn't focused enough of its energy on the ground with actual voters and personal stories. and finally, my goal from massachusetts writes, since my vote will not matter, have put my energy into getting democratic support for president obama when he is reelected, elizabeth warren for senate. we want to hear from those in non-swing states this morning. the phone lines are open.

as we are waiting for you to call, i will point to the front page of usa today. the headline -- four days to seal the deal. after a brief campaign hiatus' courtesy of hurricane sandy, president obama and mitt romney resumed campaigning. the candidate's weekend travel schedules made it clear where the election was likely to be decided. obama was slated to return to ohio today. saturday, sunday and monday. he was set to appear in iowa, virginia, wisconsin, florida, new hampshire and colorado. romney was doubled to campaign in ohio, went -- wisconsin, new hampshire and virginia. statewide polls differ on who was ahead in colorado and i what it should obama with a single digit lead in nevada and wisconsin. eight of nine surveys are the

past week and a crucial ohio give obama a narrow edge. and we will be focusing on a violator in today's "washington journal." and our swing state series. we want to hear from voters and not-swing states. we want to hear how the election is playing out how you are. and this from the baltimore sun, charging more the candidates will go in the next couple days. ting where the candidates will go in the next couple days. again, the candidates focusing all of their attention in the days leading up to election day on as swing states. we will go to david and the kentucky on the democratic line. tell us a little bit about how the campaign is playing out in the kentucky, one of the non- swing states. caller: it is mostly just romney

signs of here, not many obama signs. i think you will landslide ky. the polls show that. and i hate to say it, but even the preachers are preaching against obama and the pulpit. host: are you motivated to got to the polls? caller: yes. i am going to vote, but i think romney will win it. host: are they talking about issues you care about in kentucky. do you think there are focused too much on the swing states? caller: there probably focused too much on the swing states. but you would be lost republican administration. it was just a mess. we were losing like 800,000 jobs a month. and now we are coming back.

i just think the economy is getting a lot better now under a democratic administration. host: i appreciate the call from kentucky this morning. i want to point out another facebook post. this from justin from the upstate new york area. he writes -- at least i am not bombarded with a negative campaign ads while i am watching jeopardy. let us go to rwanda from oklahoma on our line for republicans, how is the campaign playing out in a solidly red state of oklahoma? caller: yes, we are the reddest of the red states. everyone of our counties has gone to mitt romney, and i think we will do it again. what i am calling to about is something that you will never hear from mitt romney, that he does not talk about, that he

does not solicit people to speak about, and that is about his incredible generosity. we have heard on television the people coming forward and speaking about the times that he has, without any publicity, that he has contributed to their welfare and so many different ways. he has set of hospital beds and spoke with teenagers, with a teenager who was terminally ill. and he has gone to families that have been an accident. he has contributed to their medical care. and when he had his tax releases released, that showed that he was more generous than any of the other candidates, then obama himself. host: wanda, thank you. anyone else who wants to watch mitt romney, you can see him

tonight on c-span. we will be airing his appearance and the romney-ryan tour in west chester, ohio at 7:30. you can catch up with about on c-span and c-span radio. i should note that obama will be holding a campaign rally in hillard, ohio at 10:20 this morning. a contest that on c-span and c- span radio. the paper today focusing on those swing states as we know -- the tribune -- the washington bureau notes that florida is a renewed focus in this election, at this point with polls now a dead heat. romney campaigned in florida, returned wednesday for rallies and tampa, miami and jacksonville. he is expected over the weekend to go back.

for obama, victory in florida is a prize. for romney, it is a necessity. debates about whether romney can carry ohio or other midwestern battleground states become moot without a win here, experts say. the "new york times" focuses on pennsylvania and a story a -- and shift, romney a purchase pennsylvania with a new urgency. first there was quiet, then came the super pacs, not the candidate is on his way. in a striking last-minute shift, the romney campaign has decided to invest its most precious resource, the candidate's time in a serious way to win pennsylvania. mr. romney's appearance here on sunday could be a crafty political move to seriously undercut president obama, or could be a sign of desperation. either way is visit represents

the biggest jolt yet in a state that has been recently largely ignored. in recent days, polls showing -obama's narrowing said. again, this morning we are talking about the non- battleground states. we will go to california, on our line for republicans, helen, you are on. caller: good morning. i am a first-time caller. please do not cut me off. host: go ahead. caller: i will be so glad when this election is over. i was raised a republican. my whole entire life, never voted anything but republican. but i tell you what, anyone -- i switched this year, i was born to go independent, but i am going to go for barack obama.

anyone that will vote for mitt romney has to be a 100% raist, or have a severe -- a 100% racist or have a severe mental problem. host: are you glad you are not subject to all of the presidential ads and mailings coming and to folks in ohio? caller: i am so glad. and i watched c-span, and the comments that i hear from the people, it is so sad. why do they hate this black president? and one thing i want to make clear. i am not voting for obama because we are black. host: we lost you there. i want to point to the columbus dispatch. the headline is -- mailings a nuisance for ohioans.

those of any swing states are saying it every day, calling the number of mailings and the ads a nuisance at this point. let us go to mississippi, cecila on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: yes. our state will go more than likely to romney. where the poorest people and the nation, and this man is only for the very rich. i call him a very strong used car salesmen. he will tell you anything you want to hear. and he is going to tear this country up, just like he did those companies, and sought of two parts to china and anyone else. another thing, too, i am not surprised that evangelists are supporting them, because they have been riding a gravy train a long time. they get tax deductions -- they

give tax deductions to give people that give money to them. to me it is a big welfare system and they do not want to see it end. and we have a country that is built on the middle class. this man does not care about the middle-class. he could care less. and that to me is what makes our country the greatest country in the world. and so, just like the president says, i do not understand why people are falling for the sketchy deal. that is what he is offering. host: thank you for the call. i want to point out a tweet from john -- why isn't mass. a swing state? romney says he was a great governor. republicans can win the state. just ask scott brown. we will now go to oregon, on our line for republicans, ilene.

from one of those non-swing states. good morning. caller: good morning. i thank you for c-span and all that you do for the election is wonderful. i am a republican but i did vote for gary johnson. i watched the debate on your channel. and i had not voted, and we vote by mail here -- had i not devoted and we vote by mail, i probably would have voted for obama. i think he did a stellar job. with the correct name. i think you for your programming. host: are there issues you wish the candidates would address more but you think they are not because oregon is not considered a battleground state? caller: jobs of course. we are one of the poorest

states. i volunteer at a food bank. i cannot believe how fast we have grown up. because of lack of employment. and it is sad, it is very, very sad. >> thank you for the call. we want to show you a clip of the governor romney yesterday in virginia. one of those swing states. yesterday he campaigned with majority leader eric cantor, a congressman from virginia. we will show you a bit of that now. [video clip] >> leader cantor, when was the last time you met with the president on the economy or the budget? >> he says almost one year. let me tell you, for me to get the things done i just described, i am going to have to reach across the aisle and meet with good democrats that love america just like you love america.

and there are good democrats like that. i will meet with the democrats and republican leaders. i will do it much more frequently. because we are going to have to work together. these are critical times. this is an election of consequence. host: in other ad about the campaign -- i am sorry, an article about the campaign spending late in the game. the headline from the "washington times" -- outsiders turn on spending spigot full blast. outside political groups spend 90 million on ads. and in a single day on monday, the highest water mark in the history of political spending. super pacs and nonprofit political groups furiously unloaded the money that will have little value to them in just one week. and more about ad spending.

i want to show you a clip from last evening. obama at a rally at the university of colorado, talking and that important swing state. a bit of that now. [video clip] >> we know what change looks like. [applause] we know what is going to help the middle class. [applause] we know what is going to grow jobs, reduce the deficit. and let me tell you, what governor romney is offering eight it. it is not it. giving more power back to the biggest banks is not changed. leaving millions without health insurance, that is not changed. . a another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy, that is not change.

[applause] refusing to answer questions about the details of your policies -- not change. rolling out a compromise by pledging the tea party's agenda, that is not changed. that is the attitude in washington that we have got to change. host: as the campaign moves on, recovery continues from hurricane sandy sweeping through the mid-atlantic and the northeast. here is a headline from the "the wall street journal" -- million stuck in dark and cold. i want to point to the headline on the front page of the "daily news" -- gas prices add to hurricane wpes. and "baltimore sun" -- reeling

under weight of snow. now we want to turn to new jersey. we are joined by republican congressmen and new jersey. first, i want to get the sense of the situation in your district. how bad is it now in southern new jersey? >> new jersey was hit very, very hard. i actually think north jersey was hit a little bit harder than my district. i have the lower third of the state and me congressional district. we have a lot of damage. the atlantic city casinos are still shut down. there is still a ban into atlantic city. some of the other barrier islands have allowed residents to return. the storm has caused

infrastructure problems with water and sewer. there is still a lot of people that are out of electricity, and it is getting pretty cold at night. i was able to go up with the coast guard in a helicopter tour. and in my district, we have the delaware memorial bridge down along the delaware bay, there was tremendous damage. i was on the ground yesterday, won a small little community of more than 20 homes into the bay. just terrible destruction. we have a massive cleanup effort. people have to come and because stand is 2 or 3 or more feet deep. on the oceanfront, not as much structural damage, although there is some. many of our homes and businesses had two, three, 4 feet of water and in some cases stand even a block or two and.

host: you met with president obama when he was out there. what did he tell you? guest: he said we would cut through red tape. that is important to us. gov. chris christie declared an emergency a couple of days before the storm hit. president obama signed a declaration that was a critical and necessary first step. we have seen in the past that sometimes the bureaucracy moves slowly and the people on the ground need to help. and they do not get as quickly as they should. the president very publicly to the whole nation, and of course here in my district, he had the director of fema with him. and he said there was to beat no nonsense and we were to cut through the red tape. he gives all telephone numbers to call. and if there was any problem some counties are

still doing assessments. a friend committees did their assessment yesterday. we should have -- de front communities did in their assessment yesterday. host: will there be enough funding from fema to cover the damages? what did you think will have to deal with when you return from the lame duck session? guest: that is a question i am getting more frequently. we do not know exactly because we do not know the total number. some think it will only be second to katrina. there will be tens of billions of dollars. we are doing a continual resolution until april 1. whether or not that will be enough remains to be seen. every time there's a disaster on the west coast, an earthquake, a flood and the

mississippi, a tornado, we pull together as congress, republicans and democrats and do what has to be done. i do not expect new jersey will be treated any differently. i know my colleagues in surrounding states, especially in new york and new england states were very hard hit. i have been in contact with republicans and democrats. i think we are going to join together and do what is necessary. we do not know what those numbers are. i think it is premature to speculate too much. host: thank you for joining us. good luck to you. guest: thank you. host: a want to point to an editorial in bloomberg. that cannot from michael bloomberg, the mayor of new york. he writes that he votes for president to lead on climate change. he says the climate is changing how the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in new york city may or may not be the result it should compel all

elected leaders to take action. governor bloomberg rates we need leadership from the white house. president obama has taken major steps to reduce our current consumption, including higher fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks. he notes that mitt romney, too, has a history of toppling climate change. he signed onto a regional cap and trade plan that would reduce carbon emissions. he could not be more right, but since then he has reversed course, abandoning the very program he once supported. this issue is too important. we need leadership of the national level to move the world and nation forward. that is michael bloomberg endorsing president obama over the issue of climate change and the hurricane sandy fallout.

lots of news stories coming from the fallout. the hurricane death toll has been rising. the hurricane sandy death toll now above the 90 and rising as emergency workers canvas flood and fire-ravaged neighborhoods. police say at least 59 people were killed during a storm in new york city and a new jersey. , and security secretary and fema deputy administrator richard will be in a staten island, new york today. we are talking about the presidential battleground and non-swing states. we will go to john in saratoga springs, new york, on our line for independents. caller: good morning. i want to make three points. one is the electoral college cost to go. i mean, we have two parties but

control everything. they divvy up the districts, now the states. and i mean, it has been four or five election cycles and pretty much know who the red and blue are. and they are spending billions of dollars on a seven or eight states or what ever to win. real democracy -- it should be one of vote for one person. and the bottom line is the winner. there should be more than two parties. we have to break up this party situation. there should be free, four, five people debating. -- three, four, five people a debating. one a day he is for cap and is against it.he isn't agains he was for abortion and now he is against it. in new york, there is no way he is trying to win the votes of that way. we need to get rid of this

system. we need more choices. host: republican line, new york, francesca. good morning. caller: good morning. my name is francesca. and want to let you know that in upstate new york, all of my family members, hispanic family members are supporting mitt romney. because he really knows how to make money. and right now, we have a lot of members of our family that have no jobs and looking for work every day. host: are motivated are you to go to the polls in a state that is expected to go pretty heavily for obama? caller: we are growing as a whole group. we are going to stay. and we are going to vote for mitt romney. we are supporting him completely. and we were also posting the

signs out in different areas in the upstate. we completely are supporting romney. i know that he will win. he will make a great president. host: francesca, thank you. we are talking to callers from non-swing states. phyllis from tennessee on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i do not understand how some people are talking about mitt romney, what he is doing. he talks against trade. but he is sending jobs overseas. he does not care about the middle class. we heard statements he made behind closed doors. he is against women having choices. he is against people going around trying to help people with fema. he wanted to get rid of that.

america, please open your eyes. he will not let you use your library cards. god is looking at every one of us. republicans claim that they are so christian, but you should be more about helping our fellow man. host: today is a very big day on the jobs front. here is a headline -- the politics of jobs report #46, there have been 45 monthly employment reports since obama was inaugurated. number 46 will be the biggest of them all. that jobs report comes out later this morning. we will have the numbers when they come out and will be discussing them and breaking them down and the last segment today. continuing to talk to voters and

non-swing states. let us go to new jersey. k on our line new arar for republicans. caller: some problems here. but praised god that our power is working. it is a mass. -- a mess. host: tell me about new jersey's the you on the presidential election. caller: george w. bush -- i worked with him from 2000 to to

2005. i changed to be an independent. and then i changed. but now obama -- he has too many good things going for him. he made some serious mistakes. but he has too many good things going for him. i will vote for him. if i can vote. our elections in this building, there's no electricity. if i can, i will vote for obama. host: james from new jersey. i want to bring in another new jersey congressman, congressman,. . our last caller brought up a concern about voting on tuesday. well but be a problem? guest: it may be a problem in

the sense of people being able to access a polling place. now, every authority whether it is the governor or the county clerk's -- they assured us that there will be places to vote. but if we have places to vote that are significantly distant from where people traditionally do vote, or where there is an access problem -- that does pose a problem. we have to make sure that there is a polling place that is operational, and in a reasonable location for people to vote. you cannot tell people that are in one town that they have got to go to another town to vote. first of all, many of them will not have transportation and you cannot even get gas for the most part. it is a concerned. the concern is real. we have got to make sure that there is not a problem.

that there's not a lot of difficulty in reaching a polling place. host: is a short amount of your district, the sixth district, talk about what the federal government is point to do and whether there will be enough funding for the damage out there in new jersey and up and down the east coast. guest: we have got to make sure there is enough funding. this is like to take emergency appropriations bill to pay for. there's not enough money for disaster relief. there's got to be an emergency appropriation. i think it has to be robust enough to cover all of this. it is going to be very costly. just looking at where i was yesterday, yesterday i went to bellmawr, new jersey to look at the damage.

you have all of the sand that washed away from the beach. you are talking about beach replenishment. and all of the damage to homes. some people have insurance. but for those who do not, or if their insurance is not complete enough to provide insurance, the federal government has got to help out. and i am certain that we will pass an appropriations bill to cover this, but it will be in the billions of dollars. i hope our colleagues on both sides of the aisle understand the magnitude of it. we will explain to them that it has to be done. we have to rebuild. we have to bring these towns back to where they were before. and that is part of our job as congressmen and senators, to make sure that this happens. host: remember the energy and commerce committee here in the house. mayor bloomberg talk about the issue of climate change and how

after this storm, it is influenced his vote. is climate change going to take on a renewed focus on capitol hill in the wake of hurricane sandy? guest: i would hope so. for those who say that climate change does not exist, i hope they take another look. i have always been an advocate that we needed to address climate change. and that is an important part of the congressional agenda. but as you know, on the republican side of the aisle, there has been a lot of opposition to moving forward to addressing this issue. and i hope now that there's a change in heart, this should not be a partisan issue. host: congress men pallone, thank you for joining us. on that same issue of climate change from yours today's lead editorial in the oklahoman -- even before hurricane sandy

slammed the northeast, tweeters and loggers and abundance in gauged in rank speculation about the super storms ties to climate change. not the speculation is going mainstream. bound to happen. global warming zealots never wasted chance to exploit tragic events for political gain. if global warming was to blame then, it wasn't caused by call- fired power plants. that is the lead editorial and the "oklahoman." for the last 10 minutes we are focusing on voters and non- battleground states. i want to point out a facebook post from ed -- i live in the non-battleground state of massachusetts. it will be my great pleasure on tuesday to cast a vote from deep within the balls of this hardly

misguided state for romney-ryan and scott brown. cannot pull that lever soon or hard enough. we will go to a blue state. california on of the independent line. sam, go ahead. caller: yes, this is a referendum on the spiritual life of this country. this country claims to be christian, mormons do not believe that jesus was born from god, but that mary was impregnated by a man. mormons believe that the christian bible is a bible for fools. and i want to remind the children of god that we know how this country is. host: take us through the religion to the election. guest: i will do that if you

allow me to complete my comments. host: go ahead. caller: this country is based on so-called christianity. i will tell you this, if they choose mitt romney, who believed that jesus was not borne by the holy spirit -- host: we are going to save the religious lesson for another day. on the republican line, chris, your review on at the election in the state of new york. caller: i feel very lonely as a republican in new york. i would like to make comments on michael bloomberg. you referred to him as governor bloomberg, he is the mayor.

it is focused on climate change. mr. bloomberg is supposed to be a business expert. it says nothing about the future of this country under president obama's second administration. and something else about michael bloomberg. staten island is in ruins. one-third of manhattan is without power for five days. he will have the new york city marathon start in staten island and run throughout the five boroughs through the midst of devastation. it is more than that, it is elitism. i appreciate your callers that call and with their religious and other beliefs. i am a political science guy. i have to tell you, michael bloomberg is an opportunist.

you violated the new york city charter by running for a third term as mayor. we are in a very dire state here and i wish republicans run the country would offer us new york republicans help and an opportunity to really balance out the political system here. host: thank you for the call this morning. if a time for a few more calls. all weekend long we will be featuring the history and literary life of vermont capital city with a population of just about 8000 people. the smallest united states state capitol. here is the mayor talking about the city. [video clip] >> it is the smallest state capital and america. in terms of vermont, we have the largest historic district in the state. it is a very historic community, founded in 1791.

it is run to about 20,000 during the day. largely because of the jobs that are here, the center of commerce and the area. we are fortunate here that we are somewhat insulated from a lot of the trends that occurred nationally. our economy is pretty stable because we rely on the state as a primary source of jobs. our insurance companies do well. we have three large insurance companies headquartered here. we are relatively protected from the ebbs and flows of the national economy. we are a tourism based community. we have not seen much of a dip and that. our downtown buildings are almost all full. a real testament to the strength of our downtown and the attraction for people that want to visit here. we have a very vibrant business community. but it is virtually all independent. they are responsible. but the city really does value the independent nature.

we have three independent bookstores. we had a sycophant battle here years ago. we are the only state capital that does not have mcdonalds. they have a band together and made it very clear that was not the kind of business that we wanted. and that was the outcome. there's a real sense of independents, that is what you see here. and their value among the people who live here, if you shop locally. ntc that in the way people behave. host: all week long, book tv and american history tv will take you to vermont as we explore the history of the smallest state capital. we are touring northeastern state capitals as we work with our cable partners in those cities. for more information go to c- span.org/localcontent.

we have time for a few more calls. we are hearing from voters in a non-swing states on their view of the election, four days from election day. carol on our line for democrats, from missouri. caller: we have a democratic governor. and i believe that what makes this a red state is when you get down in the area like where rush limbaugh is from. down there. you have the real far right. i have one question. who is the governor of new york? we have not heard from him at all? you see chris christie all the time? you do not see the governor of new york at all. host: we had a few stores and governor cuomo.

but we can look for stories in this morning's paper. tell us how motivated you as a democrat are to go out to the polls and misery, and a state that is leaning pretty far to the republican column in the presidential race. is it to the senate race that will pull you out to the polls? caller: it is the president and senator. i really am a democrat die hard. i just cannot see any future with the republicans, what they are putting out there. host: carol from st. louis, thank you. we will go from hphil on our lie for independents, south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to make a couple of statements about mitt romney. i cannot understand how people trust romney like they do. knowing that he is the kind of

person he is, he lies about everything. he lies about every situation. i cannot understand the people who vote republican all the time, how they both republican all the time. they are going to suffer like the rest of us. ok. that is all i really wanted to say. host:phil from south carolina, saint here. before we let you go from the first segment -- i want to point out the headline from the "washington post." the rest to rescue on a voice in the libyan sea. new information released from the cia. the cia rushed security operatives through american diplomatic compound in libya within 25 minutes of its coming under attack and play a more central role in the effort to send off tonight long siege that has been demolished publicly united states intelligence officials said this on thursday.

you can read that story in a the "washington post." that benghazi attack playing as one of the main foreign policy issues in this 2012 election. that is it for the first segment of the "washington journal." in the second segment, we will look at ohio. and later we will be joined by ohio republican party chairman, bob bennett. ♪ >> first and foremost, we have to create an environment that our small businesses can try. one of the uniqueness on the border that is different from the tax reform needed for the whole nation, we need comprehensive immigration reform. as a trouble the border and i meet with the ranchers, we have a workforce problem because our and for -- our immigration system is broken. we cannot get workers to go back and forth. these problems create an

impediment to congress. we have got to move a back-and- forth easily. but now we are not able to do that because of the impediments there by not having an effective comprehensive immigration policy. that becomes an economic issue as well. >> some of the issues have to deal with the issue raised here with regard to being near the border. seasonal work that comes on, and especially being susceptible to national trends when it comes to unemployment in the economy. we need things desperately here like a commuter plan that will make it easier for labor to, during the daytime and go back at night, that is not really allowed easily in our system. but one thing and got to avoid is the sequestration that is looming at the end of the year that will hurt, first and foremost, our military readiness. but for an area that relies heavily on the defense industry, it would be devastating. >> what were the dates from key

come house, senate and governor's races online any time and throughout the day saturday on c-span, starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern. >> just a few minutes ago, i called by president bush and congratulated him on his victory. and i know i speak for all of you and for all of the american people when i say, he will be our president and we will work with them. this nation faces major challenges ahead and we must work together. >> i have just received a telephone call from gov. dukakis. [applause] and i want you to know, it was most gracious. his call was personal. it was genuinely friendly. and it was and the great tradition of american politics. [applause]

>> of this weekend on c-span 3 and american history tv, 20 years of presidential victory and concession speeches, but sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we have been highlighting key battleground states as part of a series and the countdown to campaign 2012. today we will wrap up their series by putting a spotlight on ohio. to do that, we are joined by mark naymik, a political reporter with the "cleveland plain dealer." ohio has 18 crucial an electoral votes. september unemployment rate of 7%. in a state that president obama won by a little more than four points in 2008. go beyond the numbers and explain why ohio has been described as the ultimate battleground state. guest: great question.

ohio doesn't need any more spotlight. the candidates themselves and their running mates have been in ohio about 80 plus times by the time this weekend is over. that is a lot of activity. and the reason they are here, ohio is that crucial bellwether. and has only been a wrong i think twice in the last 10 or 12 years and predicting a president. we have a great balance of republicans, democrats and independents. about a third of each. in ohio, you do not have to declare a party come your affiliation is determined by which primary votes to cast. and you have some flexibility. also, the geography of ohio lends itself to become a great slice of america. it going to the northeast of ohio on the shores of lake erie, the south shores of lake erie compared to canada, you will find a lot of the industrial base in places like cleveland. as you move further south, you

will find a lot of rural areas, and agriculture is the largest export in the state. if the go to the southeast, you will run into the foothills of the appalachian mountains. people down there that will swing on the economic issues. and the go farther west in the southern part of the state, he will run into cincinnati, very conservative. if you move back up north on the west side, you get towards toledo and begin a mix of both and industrial. a lot of auto jobs. one reason why both candidates spend a lot of time there. host: this shows a little what you are talking about as you talk about the geography and ready votes are located. the solid democratic parts of the state and blue, and solid

republican parts and read. about that columbus area. guest: columbus the state capital is where the ohio state is, that has become the key swing area of the state. it is growing. it has younger voters. it is a fluent. it is in an area that the previous bush's had one. but president obama made it flipped and took it by several percentage points. i think you are seeing a lot of attention in going there. this weekend, president obama will be finishing topping off his ohio campaigning in central ohio. in the past tv of cycles, we have seen the democratic candidate come up in northeast ohio and try to make that pushed. i think he is comfortable with the get out to vote efforts. he ought to go down -- he has to appeal to the swing areas. more independent voters.

and you had this educated, affluent group, the base around ohio state university. and that has been critical. in the end, if you show that map, ohio is broken up, we have said it for years into 5 ohios. those five areas, plus some of the border areas, we have about seven media markets. it makes a very expensive to campaign here. in gubernatorial races and some presidential races there will go to west virginia to reach the southern ohio parts. that is where the bigger market is and that has to be part of the mix, too. ohio is five ohios. host: we talked about the issues, the top issues in ohio in this election cycle -- can we talk about the issues? guest: this is like to been a shock to your viewers, but the

auto issue has been huge here. i have never seen where one issue in the campaign can play so well here. obviously, it is the battle of the bailout. who wanted to take it into bankruptcy. who got hurt, who did not. you are seeing the new ones being played on. and you are seeing the big swing, which is on the president's side, i save the auto industry. and the mitt romney has been trying to play the policies of the president and how they have hurt auto and how they will send the jobs to china and elsewhere. you can see how they are targeting some of their campaign stops. this place in the northwest, a very heavily auto-related. and in dayton. -- you have delphi. it gets into, do those autoparts

makers lose their pension as a result of the auto bailout because other people got protection? this is the kind of thing being battled an ohio. host: "washington post puts that in perspective. it notes that there is an auto industry presence in 80 of the 88 counties in ohio. overall, one in eight jobs in the state is tied directly or indirectly to the auto industry. down from one in five a decade ago. we of the auto issue. what else tops the list? guest: is not as big, but it has some importance in the map of ohio. that is the energy issue. particularly coal. those issues play. and it takes it back into what it described earlier, the foothills of the appalachia.

mitt romney has run commercials on their targeting it, trying to portray president obama as someone who will hurt the coal country because of its emphasis and aide to alternative energy, solar and other things. the energy issue has had little bubble here in ohio, perhaps more than some of the other areas because of the coal, we also have the natural gas, for lacking is a big issue as a backdrop and the state. i think people are primed to talk about energy. host: talk to us about the mechanics of voting. early voting allowed in ohio. and the potential for three counts and when that kicks in. guest: ohio has early voting, and has early voting by two methods. we have this no-fault absentee ballot, you do not need a reason, you cannot aldo and an

order -- all the campaigns are sending this to get a vote by mail application. and we have in a person boding which is more controversial. if you are looking for a third issue it has been over the rules. there have been a lot of battles. obama's campaign -- on the grounds that having limited in a person of voting for veterans only leading up to the election was actually creating and on unequal playing field. you can do it by mail come in person. both campaigns have spent a lot of time pushing matt. absentee ballot requests are up. in person balloting, at least in the democratic base, is running

a tad behind what president obama had, or had hoped to get in 2008 in terms of ballot requests coming from democrats. that is still a pretty strong turnout. and republicans benefit from that same opportunity. but the in person balloting is really driven by the urban democratic votes. host: we are talking to mark naymik, cleveland plain dealer correspondent. the democratic line is -- 202- 585-3880. republicans reject 202-585- 3881. and ohio resident -- 202-585- 3883. mark naymik, take us through, if you could, the conflict over the latest auto ad by the romney

campaign. and some of the campaigns they have made about jeep production lines in china. guest: in this has gotten a lot of attention. and the only thing getting attention during the first few days of the sandy coverage. romney was in ohio. he was holding an event that encouraged people to bring aid and food. this ad was running. in it, it suggests that president obama is responsible, and his policies are responsible for jeep sending more jobs to china. china -- the chrysler owners are investing in china to boost the market there. they are not cutting back in ohio. they are investing more in the toledo area chrysler planned.

the romney campaign has been asked babout it. and they stand by it. the suggestion is clear that ohio might lose jobs. host: let's play a little bit of the radio ad that talks about this. >> barack obama says he saved the auto industry, but for who? ohio or china? gm cut 15,000 american jobs, but they are planning to double the number of cars in china which means 15,000 more jobs for china. chrysler plans to start making jeeps in china. what happened to the promises made to autoworkers in ohio? this same hard-working men and women who were told the auto

bailout would help them. mitt romney would welcome the auto industry baneber. mitt romney, he will stand up for the auto industry in ohio. not china. host: so that is a radio ad that we were talking about. this has been on television ads across all media markets as well. guest: what i have seen in northeast ohio, yes, there is a version of that that runs. it has drawn a strong rebuke from the owners of chrysler. again, it is taking two unrelated things and trying to

argue that the president is responsible for the shipping of jobs to china. there are investment being made in jeep in ohio. i think it is an example of how important the although voter is. -- the auto voter is. there may be some people who peel off who get upset about that china issue. host: running ads directly challenging the mitt romney ad, here is one of those obama ads now. >> when the auto industry faced collapse, mitt romney turned his back. even the detroit news criticized him for his wrongheadedness on the bailout. now chrysler has refuted romney's lie. jeep is adding jobs in ohio. mitt romney on the ohio jobs, wrgont then.

dishonest now. host: we are talking to mark naymik, a political reporter with the cleveland "plain dealer." steve is on the democratic line. caller: my call is concerning green energy and is a question for mark. supposedly, germany, 43% of their energy comes from solar energy. i was just wondering why are people so against green energy when it it could dramatically change our cause prices on so much like electricity and everything else. that is my question. guest: thanks for the question. i don't know the numbers in

germany. it sounds high to me. green energy is expensive because we do not have the technology right now i think to certainly -- let's talk about wind power. it is very expensive to have the idea of wind power because you can still generate that energy much cheaper using coal. as we invest more and produce more here in ohio or elsewhere in the country, green energy costs will come down. ohio has tried to make its of a leader on the wind turbine, wind energy. there are programs in ohio that are trying to put stuff on lake erie but it is very expensive to get started. i think that is part of what we are limited on the green energy right now. host: a question on twitter from

jim writes -- guest: i'm sure autoworkers will love that but there is a thing called tariffs that make those cars pretty expensive. they look at the ability to serve a market more directly and more cheaply than over in china. you almost have to have the reverse argument. we want to build cars here and china wants to build them their. host: another call on the line. sheila is waiting. caller: hello? well, i'll tell you what. right now, i am so upset with the way the economy is going. obama is not hal ob how

for coal. i do not like obamacare either because i am disabled and my husband is, too. he is 100% disabled as a veteran. i even asked my doctor about obamacare and he said it was going to be very bad for the patients and even for the doctor's. i am from a big military family. this thing on benghazi, it jsut really hit hard here. i am very upset because if that had been my son because he was in the military also i would be very upset. i am surprised that some of these families have not even

come out more and spoken out about this situation. host: a couple issues there. foreign policy, talk about how it is playing in ohio. guest: first sheet mentioned the issue of jobs and the economy -- she mentioned the issue of jobs and the economy. mitt romney has made a strong case about laying out why we don't have a better economy. why he would lead the country in a direction toward creating more jobs. i think that has been the strength toward his campaign. when you get into the military, that has been an issue. it was a much bigger issue in 20008. getting into the benghazi issue talking about the attack in

libya has not played much in the campaign. it has been more of an issue that the pundits have battled around but you will not hear that on the campaign trail from voters and elsewhere. host: tennessee on the independent line. go ahead. caller: hi. for then watching this last couple days and i wonder -- he is really trying to help the middle class. i have a business in tennessee. i think he is a good president.

mitt romney already has everything. he does not know what it feels to be black or white in the middle class. give obama i chance. host: a small business owner from tennessee. guest: small business is always in the campaigns and it gets laid out pretty simply that democrats raise taxes and hurt small businesses. republicans always argue they will reduce regulation and reduce taxes. they always try to talk about that small business owner that earns $250,000. that gets a lot of play but it takes the back seat to the jobs issue, the auto industry, the coal issue, and even health care

gets battled around. president obama always seems to push that he is 17 or more tax breaks for small businesses. that is still part of the larger issue of jobs. host: a question on the jobs issue been there we're waiting for that latest unemployment report to come out. here is a chart of the unemployment rate across the ohio. that is below the national rate of about 7.8%. are people more focused on that state numberor the national number that we will see the latest on this morning? guest: it is the national number. we have a republican governor who has taken credit for some of these job numbers improving

which obviously makes it a bit dicey for the republican candidate to come in and argued the president has been so bad for ohio because ohio is doing better than the national average. people still see unemployment high. that larger picture is definitely the focus of the voters, the campaigns, and the commercials. we have a long way to go here. it is not a big factor in this debate. host: we will go to strongsville, ohio, on the republican line. caller: buy and a chaplain in the justice center. -- i am a chaplain in the justice center. how can we pay our teachers or our defense or anything?

i am choosing a man with a planned and that is mitt romney. don't hate me, hear me. vote for mitt romney cannot get hired. vote for obama, get fired. host: if you had any thoughts on the comments from the viewer in ohio? guest: we had ann romney with a .umbeour lieutenant governor strong smell has been a pretty solid republican area -- strongsville has been a pretty solid republican area. host: let me ask you in the two and a half minutes we have left. what are you going to be watching for on election night in ohio?

what returns are you most interested in? guest: we have a couple of swing in counties, bellwethers within the bellwether. lake county is just east of cuyahoga county along the lake. they usually turn in results first and then have often predicted that president. i am going to look there and in central ohio. county. starr countk they are usually a nice bellwether. we are going to see totals all across the state immediately with early voting totals and absentee ballots because those are processed and recorded but are not tallied. it is the push of a button. we will get a sense of where things are immediately and i think that will probably wherever that is leaning will

likely hold as an indicator. i think the race will come down to less than two percentage points in ohio for president obama. host: we have roy from tennessee on the democratic line. from obama, i'm because he says he wants to increase education spending. he wants to add more for teachers, do better for teachers. mitt romney keeps saying i am going to cut education and then i am not going to cut. the bottom line is he is going to cut education programs. he flip-flops' all the time. he also says i want to punish overseas investment to china. is he going to punish himself? he has so many investments over

their. guest: definitely the issue of teachers and education have played a motif in ohio which really goes back to 2010 where we had one of those collective bargaining issues that was on the ballot to undo the republican-led legislation which fired up teachers. that was successful and people see that as a potential signal for what may happen in just a few days here in ohio. host: mark naymik, a longtime political reporter with "the plain dealer," thank you for joining us. up next, we will have the chairman of the ohio republican party, bob bennett. later, tim ryan joins us to discuss ohio and shaping the outcome of the presidential election.

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state capitol, saturday at noon eastern on c-span to them by sunday at 5:00 p.m. on american history tv on c-span3. >> "washington journal" continues. host: ohio republican party chairman bob bennett joins us now as we continue our spotlight on ohio. with four days left before the election, thousands of advertisements, scores of visits, is there anything left to be said at this point? guest: if you look at the two campaigns, they are going to be an ohio for the next three days so i think they have a lot to say yet. we have a very small and decided in the number of voters that have not made up their minds. the big thing is the ground game

and getting out to vote. host: talk about the ground game for mitt romney there in the hyatt. the latest average of polls as obama up by a little over two points out there in ohio. where do you see the race? guest: we are showing mitt points.p acoupla couple of i think it is all within the margin of error so it really comes down to getting out the vote with the individuals. i am very confident with our ground game. going through the 2004 election with president bush and senator kerry, i never thought i would see another race like that in a high of. this one is far exceeding its. the intensive level is greater than even 2004.

host: we are talking to the ohio republican party chairman bob bennett. if you have questions for him or about the republican party or just want to learn about the state of ohio, give us a call. talk about at what point you saw romney start to move out there in ohio. i have a list of polls. there have been about 31 polls in the month of october and only about four show romney ahead. four others showed the race tied. you say mitt romney is ahead in your tracking polls.

guest: i think the model most of them are using is the 2008 model and that was an unusual election. host: in terms of sampling? guest: yes. we know the intensity level -- first of all, of voting dropped off substantially in 20008. the president won ohio by 4.16% of the vote. we think that model -- we do not believe they have matched and that intensity this year. we think it has shifted into the republican camp. if you look at the counties around our major metropolitan areas, this is where we are substantially outperforming.

host: i want to ask you -- we have been talking about hurricane sandy and its effects this morning. do you think it will have an impact on ohio at all? guest: it certainly has had an impact in northern ohio. i live in the city of cleveland and was without electricity from monday to just yesterday. there are still 70,000 folks out. that does not even compared to the problems that new jersey and new york and the eastern sea coast had. i think we've feel pretty lucky. yes, there are some people that are pretty upset because they will not get their electricity back for the first part of the week but in comparison i do not think it will have an impact on the turnout for the election on tuesday. we have been voting in ohio

since october 2. we have early voting here. we expect a third to 40% of our votes will be cast before the election day on tuesday. host: where do you stand in terms of republican and democratic turnout in the early voting? guest: in the urban areas, the democrats have been a very good job in turning out their votes. the overall swing is about 14%. the democrats are down a little bit from their level in 2008. we are up a little bit in our key republican counties. overall we feel good about where we are right now and we will continue to bring home those votes from now until tuesday. host: we have an ohio line open for ohio president this morning.

-- ohio residents this morning. caller: good morning. retired military, unemployed for the last three years. i have watched a lot of c-span. the voter i.d. issue. i am surprised that the issue has not been brought up on the voter i.d. law. my view of it is you need an i.d. for everything. opening a bank account, cashing checks. i think the voter i.d. deal covers a lot of programs where a lot of fraud and abuse comes in

there. i was curious as to why it hasn't been addressed. there is a lot of defense that i think the republican campaign might have done it to squash any allegations of voter suppression. guest: i think he is absolutely right been very we know from based polling in ohio that well over 75% of voters support voter identification law in ohio. however we do have identification requirements in ohio to indict you have to show either a driver's license, put down the last four digits of your social security number, or you have to show a utility bill showing your address. we do have a identification requirements in ohio.

we do not have voter identification requirements but i think overall the legislature has felt it has not been necessary in ohio. we do have pre-registration in ohio. you have to be a resident for 30 days in ohio in which to register to vote them back we think that is fair. we have other requirements in our law that we think need to be addressed. host: let go to pennsylvania on the democratic line. david, go ahead. caller: good morning. i am a union member, a union carpenter over here in pennsylvania. i just wanted to call and ask you what is your opinion on organized labor. all i see is the republicans

trying to break all the teachers unions. pennsylvania, ohio, and all over the country. this looks like a referendum on the reagan election when he busted up the air traffic controllers. union members should take note of this. this could be the most important election of our lifetime. guest: i come from a long family of union members. i have a son-in-law who is a member of a local electrical union in cleveland. i do not think most republicans are anti-union. i think we look for a balance in union representation and we look for unions to be progressive in adapting to the changes that take place whether in technology or anything else. i think the same thing for the

teachers' unions. taking advantage of the technology that is available and making sure we have qualified teachers in the classroom, that is the most important thing to the republican party and the constituency. we have good teachers. we also have some bad teachers and it is very difficult under the tenure requirements, the union contract, to get rid of those bad teachers. i think that is the objection that many voters have to the teachers' unions and some of the contract. i think the system itself needs to be changed. i think that is what republicans are talking about. host: i want to get your thoughts on that ad from the mitt romney campaign that says